According to Wikipedia®, Augmented Reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. Hardware components for augmented reality are: processor, display, sensors and input devices. Modern mobile computing devices like smartphones and tablet computers contain these elements which often include a camera and MEMS sensors such as accelerometer, GPS, and solid state compass, making them suitable AR platforms.
AR displays can be rendered on devices resembling eyeglasses, hereinafter AR eye wear. Versions include eye wear that employ cameras to intercept the real world view and re-display its augmented view through the eye pieces and devices in which the AR imagery is projected through or reflected off the surfaces of the eye wear lens pieces. Google® Glass is not intended for an AR experience, but third-party developers are pushing the device toward a mainstream AR experience. After the debut of Google Glass® many other AR devices emerged such as but not limited to Vuzix® M100, Optinvent®, Meta Space Glasses, Telepathy®, Recon Jet®, Glass Up®, K-Glass, Moverio® BT-200, and Microsoft® Hololens®.
Some of the AR eye war offers the potential to replace other devices a user typically has to carry with them, such as for example, their mobile device (e.g. computer, tablet, smart phone, etc.). The Meta Space Glasses for example proposes to mirror devices in AR form such that they would appear in front of the wearer of the AR eye wear. Networked data communications enable the display of the user interface of the devices into 3D models of the device housings. Interaction between the AR form of the devices and the wearer of the AR eye wear is turned into user input which is relayed to the actual device via the networked data communications. Similarly, the result of any such interactions, or any updates of the user interface of the devices, is communicated to be rendered by the AR eye wear thereby enabling the AR form of the devices to look and operate substantially like the real devices. Advantageously, the devices themselves can remain in a secure location such that the wearer of the AR eye wear need only carry the AR eye wear and leave every other device behind AR eye wear therefore have the potential to become the ultimate in mobile technology as the user may be able to carry the AR eye wear and nothing else.
A problem that such an arrangement presents is that it is not possible to utilise the camera functionality of the AR form of devices having cameras integrated to them. For example, if a mobile device has a camera, the user of the same mobile device in AR form via their AR eye wear will not be able to use the front facing camera for such purposes as, for example video communication such as video conferencing or video chat: if the camera of the real device is enabled using a video conferencing or video chat application, the camera will be recording what it sees at the remote location, and not the location whereat the user of the AR form via their AR eye wear sees.
A possible solution to the problem of using AR eye wear for video communication is the employment of a separate physical camera in conjunction with the AR eye wear.
A possible solution to the problem of using AR eye wear for video communication is the use of the existing AR eye wear camera for video communication.
Using a separate physical camera in conjunction with an AR eye wear for video communication has the inconvenience of requiring one to carry an additional device that needs to be in communication with the AR eye wear.
Using the camera in the AR eye wear for video communication is promising, but it presents some additional challenges. For example, since these cameras face away from the wearer of the AR eye wear, the wearer may not be able to simultaneously view the user interface (including video communications from another party) at the same time as they capture their own image: currently the user of the AR eye wear would have to remove the AR eye wear to point the camera toward themselves in order to direct the camera to their own face for video communication. A similar problem occurs if users of an AR eye wear wishes to use a conventional video communications application such as Skype® or the like: the other party sees what the AR eye wear user is seeing, and not the AR eye wear user himself.
There is therefore a need for techniques of employing the camera functionality that is built in to the AR eye wear to enable the wearer to participate in video communication without the need of any additional communications to an additional external device with the AR eye wear, and without the need of removing the AR eye wear to direct the camera in the AR eye wear to their own face.